Fiber optic communication employs light to transmit data between electronic devices using optical fibers. Each optical fiber has a reflective inner surface that reflects the light along a length of the fiber. Fiber optic devices used in fiber optic communication may include an optical interface that transmits and/or receives fiber optic signals. The optical fibers are physically connected to the optical interface, and light is transmitted and/or received at each of the optical interfaces.
Optical fibers that are damaged generally suffer deterioration in transmission capacity and/or quality as a result of the reduced capability of the fiber to reflect light within the fiber. Accordingly, optical fibers must be protected from being bent, pinched, cut, or otherwise damaged in any way that would impair the transmission capability of the fiber. Additionally, the interface between a fiber and other components, e.g., the end of a fiber where it is secured to a connector, must be carefully managed to minimize signal transmission losses across the interface. For example, fibers may generally be cut only with specialized equipment that leaves the cut fiber with a smooth end that is properly aligned and prepared to minimize any transmission loss from the fiber to an adjacent connector or component. The specialized equipment and/or personnel required for splicing optical fibers for may not be readily available in each facility.
Accordingly, it may be difficult to cut fibers to an exact length between components, and communication facilities must therefore stock a wide variety of fiber lengths. The fibers may in some cases be connected to components with relatively large amounts of excess slack that is left unprotected and may be wrapped around portions of the racks. However, this causes great difficulty in repositioning or removing fibers any time there is a large number of fibers connected to the same rack or component, as the fibers become wrapped upon one another or tangled, thereby preventing removal or adjustment of any individual fiber. This is especially problematic in central office environments that transmit large numbers of communication signals to/from the facility and between components located within the facility, and necessarily use a large number of fibers in relatively confined spaces.
Accordingly, a communication component rack system is needed that provides greater protection and installation flexibility for fibers connected to one or more racks.